2010 State Tournament
Class 3A First Round Notebook

By Matt Pfiffner

News and notes from the first round of Class 3A action.

103 - Top-ranked freshman Colby Knight of Urbandale scored a pair of takedowns on his way to a solid 5-2 victory over No. 5 Drake Swarm of Bettendorf. Three other freshmen - Joel Northrup of Linn-Mar, Andrew Steiert of Waverly-Shell Rock and Evan Reynolds of Norwalk - also won, to give first-year high school wrestlers four of the eight quarterfinal spots.

112 - Top-ranked sophomore Cory Clark of Southeast Polk remained perfect for his high school career with a first-period pin over Dan Adair of Sioux City East. Richie Eikenberry of Bettendorf picked up the first of 10 first-round wins for the Bulldogs with a 4-2 upset of No. 5 Bryce Lynn of Dubuque Senior.

119 - Top-ranked Brandon Jones of WDM Valley and No. 3 Eric DeVos of Waverly-Shell Rock picked up easy wins as they seem destined to meet in the semifinals, a rematch of last year's 112-pound title win by Jones.

125 - No. 6 Bubba Hernandez of Bettendorf held off takedown attempts by No. 10 Austin Weisinger of Marion in the final minute for a 3-2 win. No. 3 Jim Gotto of Western Dubuque survived an overtime scare against unranked Kolton Rottink of Waverly-Shell Rock, 3-1.

130 - No. 3 Chad Ryan of Sioux City North gave up the first takedown against No. 8 Shiloh Snyder of Maquoketa, but scored the final six points in a 6-2 victory.

135 - Second-ranked Josh Greiner of Ottumwa barely kept his perfect record intact with a 2-1 win over No. 5 Jake Rizzio of Cedar Rapids Prairie. He will meet top-ranked Bo Schlosser of Bettendorf in the quarterfinals.

140 - Two-time State champ Jake Ballweg of Waverly-Shell Rock scored a workmanlike 7-1 win over Brad Schwenke of Atlantic. Second-ranked Gabriel Moreno of Urbandale also remained undefeated with a one-minute pin of No. 6 Chase Eggers of Newton.

145 - Top-ranked and returning State champ Cody Caldwell needed just 35 seconds to pin No. 9 Tyler Maxwell of Glenwood. No. 3 Cody Swim of Indianola was almost at quick, with a 40-second pin of Austin Fleetwood of North Scott.

152 - No. 1 Justin Koethe of Iowa City West and third-ranked Joey Trizzino of Bettendorf will meet in a very important quarterfinal bout after both posted easy wins Wednesday night. No. 4 Andrew Cartwright of Fort Madison held off No. 8 Ryan Flagel in the closing seconds for a 3-2 win.

160 - Nick Moore started his march for a fourth State title with a fall in 1:07 over Devin Johnson of Pleasant Valley. No. 9 Nick Vasey of Des Moines North-Hoover will be the next opponent in Moore's way.

171 - The top five rated wrestlers at this weight - Michael Moreno of Urbandale, Walt Gillmor of North Scott, Trey Henderson of Indianola, Nate Shaw of Bettendorf and Travis Mallo of Mason City - won by fall.

189 - Fans who weren't paying attention may have been shocked when they glanced over at mat 5 and saw top-ranked Kyven Gadson of Waterloo East walking off the mat and the hand of Clint Richers of Fort Madison getting raised. Gadson won by fall in 27 seconds, but the referee accidently raised the wrong hand. Gadson will meet third-ranked Evan Knight of Urbandale tomorrow in a match everyone has been waiting all year to see.

215 - In one of two match-ups at 215 between rated wrestlers, No. 3 Brock Haas of Dubuque Hempstead edged No. 8 Jesse South of Urbandale, 5-3.

285 - The match between the two highest wrestlers in the round was No. 2 Nolan Proehl of Davenport West against third-ranked Colin White of Glenwood. White scored a quick reversal on a switch early in the third to cut Prohel's lead to 3-2, but Proehl scored an escape and late takedown for the 6-2 win.